The Batman is Only One Quarter Through Shooting

During an interview with Deadline, The Batman director Matt Reeves gave an update on the production of the highly-anticipated film — currently shut down due to the pandemic — revealing that a quarter of the movie has been shot so far.

“We’re not officially editing right now,” said Reeves. “We’ve actually shot a quarter of the movie and I have been pouring through dailies, looking at takes, and what’s to come.”

Despite the very “fluid” situation and hopes to continue filming in London when all is clear, The Batman co-writer confirmed that he has no plans to re-write the story. “It took me two years to work on that story, and it’s a very specific mystery noir that’s been really though-out by me and my partners.”

With that being said, Reeves admitted that the down-time, while production is on pause, allows the director to reconsider “the tone of things. It happens any time you shoot anything. The unexpected — happy accidents and things you didn’t quite expect: That is the lightning in a bottle for something that is alive. I would say that the changes really have to do with ‘Oh, seeing the tone of this’ with these scenes we haven’t done which connect to that part of the storyline. It feels like there might be an opportunity to explore some of that unexpected tone that we found. With these movies, you never have enough prep time, because they’re so complex and so enormous in so many ways. It also gives me a moment to think about the larger sequences that have yet to come up and how I want to realize those.”

Reeves also paid tribute to dialect coach Andrew Jack, who died after developing COVID-19. “He was a lovely and special person and it’s one of those things where it makes you re-prioritize and realize how fragile everything is. I’m tremendously focused on the movie, and, of course, it’s nice to be able to stop. But the real thing I’ve been thinking about is the state the world is in, and hoping that everyone is going to be OK and that everyone is going to social distance and do everything to be safe because it’s a very scary time.”

Starring alongside Robert Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is Zoë Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Mad Max: Fury Road) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (Love & Mercy, 12 Years a Slave) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the Hunger Games films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the Transformers films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (The Magnificent Seven, Black Mass) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Jayme Lawson (Farewell Amor) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes films, Black Panther) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Dumbo) as Oswald Cobblepot. Twins Max and Charlie Carver have also joined the movie in “sizable roles.”

Reeves and Dylan Clark (the Planet of the Apes films) are producing the film, with Simon Emanuel, Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada and Chantal Nong Vo serving as executive producers.

Plot details are still being kept under wraps but The Batman is reportedly set to explore the Dark Knight’s younger years with Reeves further hinting at the film’s connection to the iconic comic book story arc “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli which was published in 1987.

Reeves’ behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar-nominated director of photography Greig Fraser (Lion, Dune); his Planet of the Apes production designer, James Chinlund; editors William Hoy (the Planet of the Apes films) and Tyler Nelson (Rememory); and Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book); Oscar-nominated SFX supervisor Dominic Tuohy (1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).

Also on board are Oscar-nominated sound mixer Stuart Wilson (1917, the Star Wars franchise); Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran (1917, Little Women, Anna Karenina) and costume designers Glyn Dillon (the Star Wars franchise) and David Crossman (1917, the Star Wars franchise); hair designer Zoe Tahir (No Time to Die, Spectre); and Oscar-nominated makeup designer Naomi Donne (1917). As was previously confirmed, Michael Giacchino (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will be composing the score for the film.